This girl has gotten so much hype. And through this girl, I learned that many of my peers are unsympathetic and self-absorbed. Well, I didn't learn that, I just had my opinion supported by Facebook statuses and memes.

Politicians suggesting stupid things like, "women who are victims of 'legitimate rape' rarely get pregnant" -- Akins lost his election bid over that doozy and the way the opposition framed it, it was just a minefield (as well as not-so-great science). Even Romney turned on the guy for that comment. But his policies were equally controversial and yet supported by some Republicans.

Akin cosponsored the Sanctity of Human Life Act which would have conferred full legal personhood on embryos beginning at fertilization or cloning. He was also an original cosponsor of bills recognizing only "forcible" rape[37][38] to narrow access to federal funding for abortions. Under the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, as introduced, "victims of statutory rape ... would be on their own. So would victims of incest if they’re over 18. And ... 'forcible rape' ... seems certain to exclude ... cases where a woman is drugged or has a limited mental capacity."[39]

Also uproars about the birth control issue and implications on abortion rights and women's bodies. The conservative politicians really allowed themselves to end up on the wrong side of that battle, in terms of winning public support; they came out looking very badly.

Mourdock's comments ran as follows:

I know there are some who disagree and I respect their point of view but I believe that life begins at conception. The only exception I have to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother. I just struggled with it myself for a long time but I came to realize: "Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen".[69]

I understand the logic (having spent a large portion of my life talking to such people), but I think it's very short-sighted. I mean, these are people who see all the abuse suffered by Jesus, Joseph, and other Bible heroes as being part of "God's plan" for the greater good of mankind.

Here's some more overview of the impact in the 2012 elections, although some of the citations need to be vetted:

“Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability. To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.” ~ H.P. Lovecraft